Heated waterer for Canada (and my daily -20 celcius)

[off-grid hen]

I am also of the grid. I have a 25W heated 1.5 gallon dog bowl (indoor/outdoor) from Petsmart. It takes me about an hour (not counting the wait at the border) to get to montreal, so I know I'm warmer than you. I have only just started plugging it in in the morning for the keeping the water thawed during the day when I'm not home, so I don't know how cold it has to get for it not to keep the water thawed. We had a few days here that were about 15 F during the day. It kept the water thawed.

When I go out after dark to lock the girls up, I dump the water bowl and unplug it. Then I go out first thing in the morning and fill it up and plug it in. Mine is in the coop, and for what it's worth, the water in the coop stays thawed much longer than anything out in the run.

When I was shopping for these things, I saw quite a few 50W water bowls, but I didn't want to buy one. All our bulbs in the house are CFL, and we are slowly switching to LED when they burn out. We'll see how the 25W bowl works in mid January.

For a brooder I used the ecoglow for 20 chicks. 14 or 18 watts was MUCH more feasible for us than using an incandescent bulb or a watt-wasting heat bulb. We have a battery bank and solar panels, but run the generator sometimes in the winter when we get cloudy days and the batteries run low.

If the generator is running anyway, I wouldn't see the problem with using a higher wattage bowl/water heater, but once you get the batteries you should switch to the lower wattage. Good luck!

 

[Felony]

Quote:
thanks so much for your answer, I dont know why but it feels good to hear of someone off the grid too... I did not know about the ecoglow for chicks, thanks for the info. I can't wait to get it all hooked up, so i dont have to worry about the chicken'S water freezing

 

[wyododge]

If you end up getting a lower wattage bowl, just don't put as much water in it. Think of it as watts per ounce, the higher the ratio, the warmer the water in the bowl. Sounds like you may have to dump it out at the end of the day anyway. Unless I'm reading something wrong...

And for what it's worth, and I have no idea why, but warm water freezes faster than cold water. That's why hot water pipes generally freeze before cold water pipes. Has something to do with molecular motion, but I lost my glasses so I can't really see to verify that... Sooooo if you are putting water out, put cold water out and you will have a few more seconds of free water in the coop...

 

[off-grid hen]

Quote:
I just wish I had more answers for you, but I've only just started the chicken thing this past April.

Unless you've lived it, you really don't understand that we count every watt. Before I got chicks I explained to people that I didn't think it would be doable for us bc of the high wattage bulbs. And by high wattage, I mean any incandescent above 30 watts.

. They said," they'd be fine with a 75 watt bulb.". That's too wasteful if you're on batteries. Now don't get me wrong, I have a big LED tv, but it's on 2 hrs a day tops. I just couldn't run 75 watts 24 hours a day. Then I found an advertisement for the brinsea ecoglow in a chicken magazine. Yay!

Then I asked about how people dealt with water with no electricity in their coop, and all I got were suggestions to run a cord to a heater. Hehe. So I look in tractor supply and I found a 100W waterer. What?!? 100W? HECK no!! The only reason i ran the extension cord to the coop is because I found a 25w water bowl and I work all day. I have a 2 w LED bulb in there too that comes on at 5:00 am til 7:30 am. Those timers really are wonderful! So altogether with heat and light, I am only drawing 27 watts. And the bowl is only plugged in during the day.

Let me know how many watts your bowl is, and test the working temps for us. it's always good to follow up.

 

[Felony]

Quote:
It's a good idea to put less water, as long as they would have enough for the day. The idea is to not have to change the water all day long...The temperatures here get cold enough that the water is frozen sometimes after less than an hour being outside. I don't mind dumping it out or bringing it in at night, it's just so that they have water all day!

thanks for the info on the cold versus hot water

 

[Felony]

Quote:
I just wish I had more answers for you, but I've only just started the chicken thing this past April.

Unless you've lived it, you really don't understand that we count every watt. Before I got chicks I explained to people that I didn't think it would be doable for us bc of the high wattage bulbs. And by high wattage, I mean any incandescent above 30 watts.

. They said," they'd be fine with a 75 watt bulb.". That's too wasteful if you're on batteries. Now don't get me wrong, I have a big LED tv, but it's on 2 hrs a day tops. I just couldn't run 75 watts 24 hours a day. Then I found an advertisement for the brinsea ecoglow in a chicken magazine. Yay!

Then I asked about how people dealt with water with no electricity in their coop, and all I got were suggestions to run a cord to a heater. Hehe. So I look in tractor supply and I found a 100W waterer. What?!? 100W? HECK no!! The only reason i ran the extension cord to the coop is because I found a 25w water bowl and I work all day. I have a 2 w LED bulb in there too that comes on at 5:00 am til 7:30 am. Those timers really are wonderful! So altogether with heat and light, I am only drawing 27 watts. And the bowl is only plugged in during the day.

Let me know how many watts your bowl is, and test the working temps for us. it's always good to follow up.

ahah i totally know what you're saying. Even if i did move back ''on the grid'' i've realised that it is really not necessary to use so many lights and that low wattage bulbs do pretty much the same...also, that a fridg and freezer could be put on a timer and do the job as well if they're off an on a couple of hours at a time (that's how we do it) sometimes even off for 6-8 hours at a time, and we never lost any food! We also have a big pressure tank for our water and we turn on the pump once or twice a day, unless we do laudry or water the garden...the pressure is good enough for all the daily chores...all the electronic devices like the tv, video games and sound system, and of course computer are on power bars and as soon as we're done we turn them off, so simple but saves on energy because of the ''invisible loads''...and now it is so automatic that when I come out of a room, I turn the ligth off, and I also very often don't turn it on unless it's really necessary!

I'll tell you when I get the dog bowl and how it holds the water unfrozen. should be anyday soon.

 

[Felony]

i looked in all the stores around my place, big and small (walmart, canadian tire, etc...) and i ended up buying a heated dog bowl that's 50w with a thermostat. i wish i could of find one 25 watt but i'm still really happy. I will see if it works in really cold temperatures and keep you posted...these days it's actually so warm out the water is almost not frozen (just a bit put the chickens peck trough the thin ice) so i don't know yet how awesome it is to not have to change the water

 

[off-grid hen]

Quote:
I know, it's been warm here too! Today will be the coldest daytime temp we've had. I keep telling the chickens how easy they've had it this winter. "Back in my childhood, it'd be well below zero for weeks at a time...

"

50 watts isn't terrible. I mean- the generator is running anyway, right? Plus, you might need it for the cold temps you get.

Before we switched to batteries we did the pressure tank thing just like you do. We started off with no power in this old camp, so we were able to wire the house to suit our needs. Each room has a switch for 1 (yes only one) overhead fixture, and a switch for all the outlets. If we need more light we have lamps strategically placed around the room. We hit the bottom switch, and the room is dead.

Now extra wattage for me translates directly into gasoline to run the generator to replenish what gets sucked from the batteries. Just for future reference, I think cabelas has the 25 watt bowls. I'll post the link here for others who might be interested when I'm not using my iPhone to post.

 

[JodyJo]

I admit I didn't read this entire thread...I have the metal waterer base..with a metal waterer on top...at -29, it freezes...doesn't keep the water thawed enough to drink...so I switched to a heated dog bowl...it works like a charm...I dump it every couple days to clean it out...and refill.

I live in Colorado...we compete with another town for the coldest in the state every year...we win a lot! Bitter cold...I am not happy with my base...thought it would keep water from freezing...but it does not.

 

[off-grid hen]

Cabela's.
http://www.cabelas.com/product/Heat...Ntt=pet+bowl&WTz_l=Header;Search-All+Products

On Amazon US site.
http://www.amazon.com/1-1-2-Gallon-...3T2W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1325608894&sr=8-3

These look like the bowl I have from petsmart, but I can't find it on their website.